Abstract

survey of 220 male and 233 female residents of Seoul was carried out to investigate why women appeared to be more fearful of crime than men. As expected, female respondents reported higher levels of fear of crime and perceived physical vulnerability to crime. Incivility factors in the neighborhood and perceived possibility of criminal victimization were significant predictors of fear of crime for both male and female respondents. For women more psychological variables such as trait anxiety and age were other significant predictors of their fear of crime, whereas the distance to police station and frequency of watching crime-related TV programs were significant predictors for men's fear of crime.